Afterschool Piano Lessons
by Laniessa
Summary: Liz had always looked up to those prim and proper nobles who could play the piano; she only wanted to learn how to play. She just didn't expect the school delinquent would be willing to help her learn. SoulLiz.
1. lesson 0: acquiring the teacher

**lesson 0: aquiring the teacher**

( she didn't expect the school delinquent was willing to help)

_Author's Note: Well, we all have at least one high school AU rolling in our heads. This is just one of a series I may never upload. Also, this may be continued into a, another oneshot, or b, I'll stop being lazy and write it into a multi-chapter story._

* * *

Elizabeth wasn't born in a high-class family; in fact, she was born in a family that she can't remember and she's been living on the streets since. (Well, until she came here, but that's not what's important.) Liz was used to hiding in alleyways, never truly asleep when night fell, protecting her sister in a half-sleep. There was one particular house that Liz could never forget; there was a masterful pianist, and she (she thinks it was a girl because the music was so graceful) played every night, a beautiful lullaby.

Liz loved it, and she's looked up to those classy pianists every since.

Enrolling into Shibusen was difficult without any records, and even more so with a mentally unstable sister, but she'd somehow managed to get a twin dormitory with her and was on some sort of schlolarship or government funding or something, and the person who lived right across her window, in reaching distance, was the principal's son.

He was classy.

He had a piano.

Liz just assumed, and they had become friends, when Kid (what kind of name is that?) sheepishly admitted that he dislikes the lack of symmetry of the piano keys and always keeps it closed and, to quote "I've never played it much, anyway; people see me as the outstanding principal's son and assumes I can formally dance and play the piano and do all that, so I never learnt, just to spite them. To spite who, I'm not quite sure though," with a shaky laugh. She would never tell him, but she was rather disappointed.

She's not quite sure when it happened or what had happened, but suddenly, a girl named Tsubaki started chatting with her during lunch with Kid and Patti, and then a middle school student called Black Star (no, really, what?) started tagging along, and with him, came his two friends Soul (why does every guy have such a weird name?) and Maka showed up. Somehow, they had all clicked, and they were unseparable.

Soul was a delinquent – no doubt, with his jagged teeth and bleached hair and his bloodshot (red? He said it wasn't a contact lens, and his hair wasn't dyed, but she can't believe that) eyes and his overall attitude, lazy, slouched back and good with knives, the way he drawled his sentences. She didn't expect anything from him, and she thinks he liked that.

So really, when they were sitting and having lunch, Liz doesn't think much of her next statement.

"You know, I've always wanted to learn how to play piano. Those who can seem so classy."

For a split second, she thinks that maybe Kid looks disappointed, but Soul perks up, just by a tiny bit, and she doesn't understand why.

"Really?" he responds with a chuckle. "I used to tutor kids all the time and they only saw me as an annoyance."

Liz freezes at that, and then, "You can play the piano?"

Maka swallows a piece of egg she was chewing. "It's not a matter of if he can or not; he's amazing. You should listen to him at the music room – he's there every day."

"Every day is a bit of an exaggeration." Soul tilts his head, but he has a slight grin.

"You can play the piano," Liz repeats as a statement. "Was – not – expecting – that," she deadpans.

"You want to learn?" Soul says with a grin, jokingly.

And Liz's eyes lights up, even though she knows it's just a joke. "Can I?"

Soul can't really deny those bright, hopeful eyes of hers.

"Sure, just drop by the music room after school. I'll be there... most of the time."

Maka elbows him. "You mean, always? You're glued to the room – admit it!"

The group shares a laugh and Liz is overjoyed.


	2. lesson 1: alternating notes and silence

**lesson 1: alternating notes and silence**

( and he got really really quiet when he talked about the piano - it somewhat scared her, maybe just a bit )

_Author's Note: Please note that I'm a not a very diligent writer (understatement of the century) so bear with slow updates, or just give up on this - I'm fine with either, really. This is meant to be linked with another story I have not written and this will mainly only show the lessons between these two, despite the fact the entire main cast being real in their lives. Events and references will be thrown around, and it might get a bit confusing - I might have to write that one, first._

_They don't have lessons everyday, something I'll clear up in the next chapter!_

_Well, enjoy and please tell me of any mistakes? I seem to be blind when I edit my stories..._

* * *

Liz was nervous.

She wasn't nervous often, not over things like this.

It felt wrong.

She was standing in front of the music room door, hesitating to enter. Soul offered to teach her how to play the piano, but was that really okay? Did he really mean it? Would she be impos -

"You should hurry up and enter, you know," a voice from behind her says teasingly. She vaguely heard the drawl in it -

"Soul? You - you're not already in there?" she asks, and she can hear herself flustered.

"My last class was on the other side of school, and I met Maka on the way," he explained.

Was it just her, or did Soul dote on Maka just a tiny bit?

She nodded, and pushed the door open. "Oh, okay. I'm not interrupting your practice or anything, am I?"

"Nah, it's fine. I heard teaching something makes you better at it, anyway," he responded casually.

Liz didn't have many chances to enter the music room because she specialized in acting, so she took in the sight before her; folding chairs propped against the wall, several instruments scattered across the room, a beautiful black piano near the middle of the room, and a door that led to the recording studio.

The room was not exactly messy, but... "Kid would have a fit if he came into this room."

Soul gave a slight chuckle. "That, he would." He dragged a stool out of a corner she hadn't noticed and put it next to the seat of the piano, and looked towards Liz, tilting his head slightly.

She nodded and stiffly made her way over to Soul, and sat down on the seat.

"Relax! Having that tense shoulders can't be good for you."

"Y-yeah. It's just, this piano is so clean and looks so fragile so I'm just a bit afraid of you know, breaking it or something? I'm not really the most elegant person ever so I - " she realizes she rambling and cuts off abruptly.

He looks at her curiously, and silently takes a book out of his bag – on further inspection, it's a book to teach the basics of playing the piano. He lifts the lid and slides down the book holding stand (what was it called?) deftly and puts the book on. "Don't worry about it," he says after an awkward silence, and flips the book open to the first few pages. "What do you know?"

Liz can feel the waves of awkwardness rolling off her, and she stiffly replies, "I know that, er, there are five lines on the sheet? And then the note with a line across it below the lines is a C, which is..." she looks for the corresponding note on the piano – left of the center, first of the three that has two black bars – and plays it. "...and that's about it. Oh, I know how long the beats are on sheet music, too."

Soul nods. "Okay, let's just flip to this page," he says quietly, and Liz realizes he's not quiet because she's acting weird, but because he's completely serious about this. It's such a large difference to his laid-back, sarcastic self that she has problems recognizing him. She should be serious about this too, she decides.

"On this page, you can see several things – we'll talk about time signatures and that later – look at this note. What is it? Remember that every note of the piano – every white note – is either on or in between these lines, the the higher the note, it's also positioned higher."

Liz squints at the note, and hesitantly counts the lines and plays a note -

" - one higher," he says.

She notes that it's once again the first of three that has two black bars.

"That's a C."

"Huh – oh, I went up seven notes. So, then, every one of these - " she presses each of the first of threes that has two black bars - "is C?"

"Yeah. The next one," he says while mimicking her action except on the second of threes that has two black bars, "is D, and so on. When it gets to G, it starts from A again."

He plays a swift octave with his left hand, calling out each name of the note.

"Now, try playing this song. It's simple, and I'll count the beats for you."

It was the same two notes repeated in a few different lengths, alternating.

She nods, and puts her right hand to the piano, and plays the first note.

He let's a short moment pass before - "two," he says softly and it's a bit distracting, but she switches to the other note.

He nods quietly. "...two, three, four."

And the song, if it could be called such, finishes.

"Good. Can you play a few notes for me for a second?" he asked.

She complies, and he frowns. "Don't bend your fingers like that." He reaches out and keep her fingers upright on the keys, and she hides a flinch when his hand comes in contact with hers. "I know you're smart, so we'll just go through these quickly."

He points to the next page, and she scrambles to find which notes they are (D and F, in fact) and nods.

"...two, three, four," he says, and Liz knows she should start, so she starts playing.

Like that, they went through 5 songs, Soul occasionally fixing her posture or her hand. The fifth song was more difficult, with all notes alternating together, and she fumbled on the keys the first time she played it. It seemed Soul was satisfied, and he nodded again. "I want you to practice these few songs, alright? I'll be playing my music right over there, so just call me over when you have problems."

She nodded, and watched him go to – wait, there was another piano there? – and take another book out of his book, thicker than hers, and flip to a page near the middle. He shifted his fingers a bit, and started playing. His hands went up on the black bars, and he kept moving his foot on the pedal, and his hands separated and closed in together and _the notes formed a song._

It was_ absolutely amazing._

Liz hurriedly started on her songs again, heart stammering in awe and a new-found respect.


End file.
